After seven years of change...

TWO-THIRDS into the transformation programme of government-linked companies (GLCs), Khazanah Nasional Bhd must be eager to show off the progress of its companies at the inaugural three-day GLC Open Day that ends tomorrow.

The transformation programme started in 2004, some 10 years after Khazanah commenced operations.

It is aimed at turning GLCs from bloated and inefficient entities into stalwarts that thrive in the private sector and are poised to be regional champions.

The man appointed for the mountainous task was Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, previously the chief of advisory at consulting firm BinaFikir Sdn Bhd, and since his appointment at Khazanah in June 2004, the 10-year GLC transformation programme is synonymous with Azman's reign at Khazanah.

This way up: Azman Mokhtar has been guiding the transformation of GLCs since the programme started in 2004.

The journey thus far

The GLC transformation programme comprises four phases, with the first phase spanning from 2004 to 2005. It involved the revamp of Khazanah, the setting of key performance indicators for GLCs, and GLC leadership changes.

The more visible changes that took place back in 2004 and 2005 included the appointment of new GLC chiefs in Telekom Malaysia Bhd(Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar), Tenaga Nasional Bhd (Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh) and Malaysia Airlines (Datuk Seri Idris Jala).

The second phase of the programme in 2006 was the launch of the 10 transformation manuals and the setting of policy guidelines, while the third phase stretched from 2007 to 2010, when tangible and sustained results, including benefits to all stakeholders, were expected to be visible.

A key Azman catchphrase' commonly used is value creation with Khazanah's units doing so either through organic growth, divestment, exponential growth via mergers and acquisitions or greater focus in divisions.

Some of the more publicised deals include the UEM Land Bhd-Sunrise Bhd takeover and merger and Khazanah's divestment of its stakes inPos Malaysia Bhd and Time dotCom Bhd (TdC).

In TdC's first full year of its new owner-management, it delivered a profit after five consecutive years of losses.

There is also the ongoing de-listing and re-structuring of PLUS Expressways Bhd, the takeover of Singapore-listed Parkway Holdings Ltdand the emergence of regional champions in CIMB Group Holdings Bhdand Axiata Group Bhd.

Over the seven years to December 2010, Khazanah has completed 36 major divestment transactions with total proceeds of RM24bil, generating some RM11.6bil of gains upon divestment.

In 2011, this overall trend has continued with its 30% divestment of regional healthcare flagship company Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn Bhd to Japan's Mitsui & Co for RM3.3bil.

The transaction places an equity value on Integrated Healthcare of RM11bil and enterprise value of RM14.6bil.

The last lap

The final phase of the GLC transformation programme that runs up to 2015, is where GLCs are expected to be performing at par with competitors and several regional champions will emerge.

The transformation programme is also inclusive of GLCs owned by other government-linked investment companies (GLICs) such as Employees Provident Fund, Lembaga Tabung Haji and Permodalan Nasional Bhd.

“This is already happening with companies such as Axiata, CIMB,Malayan Banking Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, and PLUS.

“Although it has not been smooth sailing for the GLC transformation as some GLCs are still troubled or are muddling along, we believe the overall numbers speak for themselves,” says CIMB Investment Bank Bhdresearch head Terence Wong in his mid-year strategy report out earlier this month.

In his report, Wong highlights that the market capitalisation of the top 20 GLCs (G20) rose 122% to RM353bil from 2004 to 2010, while the share prices of these GLCs had a compound annual growth rate of 16.4%, outperforming the local benchmark index by 1.9% points.

“Economic profit increased 158% to RM4.63bil while return on equity (ROE) improved from 7.1% to 10.5%.

“Before the GLC transformation programme, the G20 were incurring huge economic losses,” he adds.

While economic profit was RM765mil in financial year ended 2010 (FY10), aggregate earnings amounted to RM17.2bil, much better than FY04's RM9.6bil.

“As for the improved ROE, the Putrajaya committee on GLC high performance attributed it to better capital management.

“Dividends paid by the G20 also increased from RM4.9bil in FY04 to RM9.7bil in FY10,” Wong says.

As for Khazanah, its overall portfolio's realisable asset value (mark-to-market) stood at RM113bil as of last year, up more than two fold since the change efforts back in 2004.

In terms of performance, the fund's net worth adjusted rose by 125% to RM75bil over the same period, resulting in a CAGR of 13% per year.

But the government's investment arm was not left unscathed during the global financial crisis, with the fund having suffered a 20% drop in its realisable asset revenue and 36% decline in total shareholder return in 2008 with some of its units, namely Axiata, Malaysia Airlines and UEM Group, needing their capital topped up.

Of glitches and GLICs

Azman has no disillusions that some of the GLCs under Khazanah's stable have not lived up to expectations.

“We have had some frustrations too, and there have nonetheless been other areas, mostly in the more regulated sectors such as electricity, autos and aviation, where value has stagnated or even declined,” Azman had said in his note at Invest Malaysia 2011 conference in April.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has been saddled with higher fuel costs and its lack of success in getting a tariff pass-through formula implemented for the longest time.

Fortunately, the Government's move last month to introduce a fuel cost pass-through mechanism for the power sector will provide some ease for TNB.

While Malaysia Airlines was successfully turned around initially and posted operating profits through cost-cutting measures, it has recently had to sail through choppy waters due to ill-timed hedging policies made some years ago and its inability to further bring down its unit costs.

As for Proton Holdings Bhd, its lack of competitiveness in home-grown models and operating in a rapidly evolving automotive industry continue to be its biggest challenges.

With one third of the journey left to be completed, it is presumable that Khazanah and its units will continue to fight sector regulations that impede their growth and iron out key operational issues that are causing cost inefficiencies in these companies.

Khazanah plans to continue with its gradual regionalisation programme of key companies while contributing to private sector investments in new areas of growth for the new economy, in areas such as leisure & tourism, healthcare, education services, Islamic finance, information and communication technology (ICT) and creative industries.

“We have already highlighted the building of our healthcare franchise over the last few years, as one of the new economy and growth sectors and how we have built value both organically and through the M&A route.

“An emerging sector where we are devoting significant time and resources is the leisure and tourism sector - which is represented in our co-investment and collaboration in Teluk Datai in Langkawi,” says Azman.

He adds that another role for GLICs like Khazanah under the New Economic Model is to better optimise the pools of national savings and funds residing in GLICs through a streamlining of investment styles and mandates - such as the co-investment and streamlining of ownership between EPF and UEM in the PLUS acquisition and toll restructuring.

Author          :          Jeeva Arulampalam

Sources       :           http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/25/business/8954167&sec=business

GLCs’ RM30m gift to society

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with (from left) Khazanah Nasional Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sri Azman Mokthar, Permodalan Nasional Berhad chief executive officer Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop and young participants at the Government-Linked Companies open day at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday. — NST picture by Chan Wai Yew

KUALA LUMPUR: Local government linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) have pledged to contribute aminimum of RM30million to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes over the next two years.

This was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the launch of the GLC Open Day 2011 yesterday at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here.

Praising their commitment, Najib said GLCs’ performance was important to the overall national development agenda.

“They make profits, and with more profits, they pay more dividends to their shareholders, including their GLICs, and pay taxes to the government.” Najib said he was heartened by the achievements under the GLC Transformation Programme from May 2004 to June 2011, in a report earlier read by Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, who represented the Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance secretariat.

Among the achievements include 16.1 per cent of shareholder returns during the period, and beating other companies on the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI by 1.9 per cent, and increasing its revenue to 31 per cent and assets to 24 per cent overseas last year.

Najib reminded the GLICs of their role as trust agencies whose real beneficiaries were the people of Malaysia, for their retirement, for haj or as an opportunity to share in the wealth of the country.

He said there was always room for improvement and that GLCs should reach out to more small and medium enterprises, especially the micro-entrepreneurs and reap benefits from the vendor development programme (VDP).

The VDP was set up to encourage GLCs and multinational companies to set up vendor companies under them.

To date, 130 vendors have graduated from the programme. Najib also lauded the contributions of the GLCs towards the Pintar and Sejahtera programmes, initiatives which had been pivotal in spreading wealth from urban to rural areas.

Pintar is a school adoption programme currently involving 34 companies who provide material and academic support to 222 schools in under-served, predominantly rural locations.

Sejahtera is a poverty alleviation programme to address poverty in Malaysia.

On accusations that GLCs were crowding-out private sector companies, Najib proposed better collaborations between GLCs and the private sector, especially to expand their joint footprint overseas, “crowding -in” instead of crowding out.

“There can also be collaborations in catalysing new growth sectors domestically, ” he added. Also present were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan.

The GLC Open Day 2011 is a threeday event event aimed at creating awareness and increasing the public’s understanding of the role played by GLCs and GLICs.

Author         :          Masami Mustaza

Sources      :          http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/GLCs__8217_RM30mgifttosociety/Article/

33 Government linked companies to be divested

Govt ready to cut stakes in some companies, list a few and sell the rest

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has identified 33 of its companies as ready for divestment. Under the plan to rationalise the portfolio of government-linked companies (GLCs) in Malaysia, the Government will reduce its stakes in some of these companies, list a few others and sell the rest.

“This action plan would involve the paring down of the Government's stakes in five companies, listing of seven companies and outright sale of 21 companies,” said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala at the seventh Economic Transformation Pro-gramme update briefing yesterday.

The move, he added, was part of a Strategic Reform Initiative to define the Government's role in business so that there would be greater liquidity in the capital market and more opportunities for private investment.

“Of the 33 companies identified under the divestment programme, 24 would see the exercise effected on them between this year and 2012,” said Idris, who is also the CEO of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

According to Pemandu, the recent debut of the Federal Land Development Authority's (Felda) MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd on Bursa Malaysia had already incorporated four of the seven companies identified for listing under the GLC divestment programme.

This means only three more GLCs were expected to list on Bursa Malaysia by the end of next year.

“The companies will only be listed when the strike price' is deemed right by the respective government-linked investment companies, or GLICs,” Idris said, while emphasising that the names of the companies involved in the exercise and the levels of “right pricing” could not be revealed at this juncture due to a non-disclosure agreement.

Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (EPF), Khazanah Nasional Bhd,Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH), Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) are among the country's main GLICs.

Companies controlled by the Government include the non-listed Petronas, Felda, KTMB and state-level companies, while listed ones include Affin Holdings Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, BIMB Holdings Bhd,Chemical Co of Malaysia Bhd, Malaysia Airline System Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, the UEM Group, TH Plantations Bhdand Sime Darby Bhd, among others.

“We also do not want a fire-sale' of any of the companies,” he said, adding that the priority when executing such plan was to ensure that the Government could get the maximum value for its assets.

The amount that the Government could potentially raise from its GLC divestment exercise remained a “trade secret.”

Nevertheless, Pemandu clarified that proceeds from the exercise would be channelled to the Federal Government Divestment Account or a state account to service the country's deficit, invest in existing funds and facilitate the Government's involvement in certain businesses.

According to Idris, the Government had set four criteria under which its involvement in business would still be required.

These include when the private sector needs co-investment in projects that are gross national income-positive to the nation such as the regional corridor developments; the business has to be owned domestically in the interest of national security, such as defence and rice-production industries; the business involve large capital investment and require long gestation period such as nano-technology; and national infrastructure projects such as renewable energy and public transport system are involved.

Industry observers and analysts welcomed the Government's GLC divestment programme, as they believed the move would help boost the capital market's attractiveness and encourage the GLCs to be more competitive.

“It's definitely good if there were more of sound companies going for listing,” an analyst said, pointing to the recent debut of MSM, which was currently around 50% above its initial offering price, as an example.

“And if the Government could let go of its hand in some of the listed GLCs, there would be more liquidity in the market, and that would enhance our market's appeal to many investors, especially the large institutional ones,” he added.

At the GLC Open Day held last month, Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia chief executive Datuk Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin had said that the Government should be prepared to reduce substantially its shares in the companies and only exercise influence in major issues and decisions.

She added that GLCs had to be given the flexibility to make their own decisions so that they could respond faster and become more competitive in the international arena.

Author          :          Cecilia Kok

Sources        :          http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/7/6/business/9035992&sec=business

MDT Innovations looks ahead big time

MSC Malaysia status radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions developer, MDT Innovations looks forward to become a multi-billion US dollar company if the deals it's working on go through.

Its core business is in the design, development, prototyping, manufacture, applications development, sales & marketing, maintenance and support services of RFID and high-technology information products, key components, critical parts and advanced display products.

Its major customers so far include Matsushita, NEC/MIT, Asahi, Totoku, Sotec, Trigen, Samsung, Proview/MAG, GVision, ComeMon/Cyco, KSI, ADI, Diva Labs, Miro, Konka, Likom, Telekom Malaysia, Radio Televisyen Malaysia, MINDEF (Ministry of Defense, Malaysia), Topre, Aspec and Powerview Technics.

“We expect our BHR300 Bluetooth HF Reader alone to bring us US$100 million worth of sales over the next two years, whilst we are currently working on an RF-SIM (radio frequency-SIM) for a multi-billion US dollar project in collaboration with one of the world's largest mobile phone companies,” its chairman and chief executive officer, Liew Choon Lian told Comm & Tech Asia at its office in Technology Park Malaysia on 18 September.
However, he could not disclose its identity, since negotiations are still underway.

The BHR300 is a battery powered, RFID reader module with USB 2.0 & 1.1 as well as Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity to a PC or smartphone.

It has a built-in antenna and works with industry-standard – i.e. ISO, IEC and Mifare RFID tags, and other compatible tags at 13.56MHz at short range of over 4cm for security, whilst its Bluetooth range is up to 100 metres, which enables it to be used in handheld or portable applications, such as ticketing, public events and so on.

“A well-know mobile phone company asked us to develop the BHR300 to authenticate its genuine products from the fakes in retail outlets in real time and this has a potential sale of 10 million units,” said Liew. “We're also talking with another popular smartphone maker which has asked us to develop a similar module like the BHR300 which will be embedded in its phones to enable them to be used in a range of RFID-based applications developed by third-parties.”

“Currently, only three companies in the world, including MDT make RFID readers with Bluetooth connectivity and we target the world's mobile phone market since it is huge,” Liew added.
Its RF-SIM looks like a regular GSM or 3G SIM module but with an integrated hybrid antenna on the SIM itself which operates at both 13.56 MHz for short-range operation and 2.45 GHz at up to 80 metres and it uses industry-standard EMV (Europay Mastercard & Visa) security with a unique identification.

Liew expects this RF-SIM to be used mostly for making electronic payments with the phone and claimed that the RF-SIM overcomes connection breakage problems of SIMs with external antennas and  other problems of signal obstruction.

MDT also sells and promotes its ecologically-friendly, water, oil and dust-resistant PaperCard made from natural materials for use as credit cards and SIM cards.

“Unlike plastic, when burnt our PaperCard credit cards and SIM cards don't emit poisonous dioxin,” said Liew.
MDT also expects to sell 10 million units of its UMR 300 USB Dongle HF RFID reader to a major customer in the United States.

The UMR 300 plugs into a USB port on a PC, PC-based cash registers, handheld devices, mobile phones or smartphones used especially in point-of-sale applications, such as at supermarket check-out counters.

“Most supermarkets have bar code readers with LCD screens which can only scan one item at a time in line of sight, whilst an RFID reader typically reads each item within 3 milliseconds or about 333.3 items per second and since it does not need to be in line of sight, it can read all the items in a shopping basket or supermarket trolley in one go, which saves much time,” said Liew.

“Our DUR 300 USB Mini Desktop reader can be used in libraries. for asset management and access control applications,” he added. It's currently installed in vehicle auto-gate security systems at over 30 sites in Malaysia.

The DUR 300 was released in January 2009, the UMR 300 in April and the BHR 300 in May.

MDT has also designed the inlays for RFID tag which can be read when attached to metal items, which have hitherto been difficult for RFID readers to read because of the metal.“RFID technology has been talked about for the past five years but the size, cost and power consumption of RFID readers has limited its adoption. However, this has now changed with RFID reader modules costing under US$10 each,” said Liew.

MDT had earlier developed applications based on its core technology know as MD700R, a mini RFID reader which earned it awards of in the Best of Communications and the Best of Security categories in the MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) 2007 in Kuala Lumpur in October that year. Its RFID Mobile Communicator and Certificate Authentication System respectively were selected as its two winning products.
At the same time, its MD770R ultra low-cost. mini-RFID reader module earned it the award in the Best of Research & Development category. At 9mm by 9mm, it is smaller than a 10 sen coin, costs one twentieth that of competing products, is one-tenth the size of the competition's smallest module, consumes one sixth the power, has 2KB of re-writeable Flash memory and was the only RFID reader with built-in memory.

The MD770R can be powered from a standard lithium coin battery, such as PC BIOS and real-time clock batteries. It consumes 10mA with its radio carrier on, 8.5mA with carrier off and 10 microamps in standby.

Its small size and low power consumption enable it to be integrated into mobile phones and other handheld devices and used for payment, ticketing and other mobile payment applications, though it can also be used in desktop RFID readers and in customised applications by third-party developers and system integrators.

Award wining product

The MD770R also won MDT Innovations the MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) 2007, Prime Minister's Best of the Best Award, which was presented in conjunction with the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 conference and exhibition at the KL Convention Centre on 17 May, 2008.

MDT also was a winner in the Red Herring 100 Award at the Red Herring Asia event on 2 December, 2008 in Hong Kong. Red Herring, a global media company selected MDT to be among the 100 most innovative private technology companies based in Asia, from among 1,000 short listed innovative companies in the region. 
MDT then went on to win the Red Herring Top 100 Global Companies Award, presented in San Diego, California on 16 January, 2008 – the only Malaysian company and one of eight Asian companies to be included in Red Herring's Top 100 Global companies in the year 2007.

“MDT has proven to be a company excelling in their industry and its ripples have turned into waves,” said Red Herring publisher Alex Vieux.

MDT submitted its healthcare application for the upcoming MSC Malaysia APICTA 2009 Awards – its 10th anniversary – to be held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on 8th October.

Author          :          Charles F. Moreira
Sources        :          http://cmc.msc.com.my/main_art.php?parentID=12073047448817&artID=12082577764705&CategoryID=2&p_artID=1099

      

Young Generation Must Use ICT To Promote Homestay

Youngsters in rural areas must apply their expertise in information and communication technology (ICT) to help promote the homestay industry. Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said with the expertise available among youngsters, they need not go elsewhere to seek employment as venturing into the homestay industry can generate economy. "Homestay is an attractive tourism product that has been in existence in the country for a long time but we have a problem in promotion since it requires a huge amount of finance. "But with the availability of ICT, we hope the younger generation can contribute in the aspect of promotion," she told reporters after launching go2homestay.com service for Blackberry and iphone users on Wednesday. She said there were about 3,000 homestays in 150 villages throughout the country with occupancy rate of 20 percent. Ng added that her ministry hoped to increase the tourism industry's homestay income from 0.7 percent in 2007 to five percent by 2020. She added that through the go2homestay.com service, information on the 138 homestays registered with the ministry, can be obtained through blackberry and iphone.

Sources       :          http://cmc.msc.com.my/main_art.php?CategoryID=5&parentID=12073047448817&artID=12082577764705&p_artID=1109

Samsung strengthens partnership with ECS for ICT distribution in Malaysia

ECS to distribute Samsung notebooks and Galaxy Tab via its distribution channel of 2,500 resellers nationwide
Samsung aims to be the top five notebook brands in Malaysia by 2012

  

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 25 January 2011 – Global leading consumer electronics provider, Samsung has strengthened its partnership with leading ICT distribution hub ECS ICT Berhad (“ECS”, “佳杰科技”; Bloomberg: ECS MK; Reuters: ECSI.KL) to distribute the entire range of Samsung notebooks and Galaxy Tab to the Malaysian market.

Samsung’s Malaysia unit, Samsung Malaysia Electronics Sdn Bhd today signed the distribution agreement with ECS Astar Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ECS. In addition to distributing Samsung notebooks, ECS will also be the authorised distributor for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab through the IT channel in Malaysia.

Prior to this, Samsung Malaysia had appointed ECS as its distributor for LCD monitors in 2005, printers and consumables in 2009, and Large Format LCD monitors in 2010.

ECS Managing Director, Foo Sen Chin, said, “ECS is deeply honoured to be entrusted with distributing another exciting range of Samsung high-value products, and believe that this is the result of our excellent performance in the past. We expect these additional Samsung products will contribute positively to the Group’s financial performance in FY2011 and onwards.”

Foo added, “ECS will continue to keep up our commitment to enhance our reseller base, to enable our suppliers to leverage on our wider distribution network nationwide. We at ECS take pride in being the distributor of choice for an extended range of Samsung products, as it reinforces our position as a leading ICT distribution hub in Malaysia.”

Samsung Malaysia’s Managing Director, Yu Jai Sul, said, “The Malaysian market is very close to our hearts, with its thriving business community, and ever-growing population of technologically-savvy users. This strengthens our resolve to introduce new products, and make them more accessible to the man on the street.”

“Our collaboration with ECS in the past 5 years has yielded very positive results, and we hope to repeat this success with the range of notebooks and tablet. In fact, with this reinforced collaboration with ECS, we target to increase our market share to be among the top five notebook brands in Malaysia by 2012,” 

Sources       :          http://www.samsung.com/my/news/newsRead.do?news_seq=24159&gltype=localnews

     

Malaysia wants more cooperation in ICT with Korea

SEOUL: Malaysia wants to have more cooperation in information communication technology (ICT) with South Korea, which is well ahead in ICT, to enhance their bilateral relations in the field which is currently still at a moderate level.

Information Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said Malaysia hoped the cooperation could be translated into ICT-related projects to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries, which are celebrating 50 years of that relations this year.

He said Malaysia would try to venture into various areas of ICT where Korea had the strengths in implementing the projects.

“We will see how Korea could advance and be the number one country in the ICT field and how it has incorporated ICT use in villages throughout the country, besides educating Korean youths on how to use ICT to generate income, especially in the content industry.

“These are interesting areas and we will try to venture into some,” he told Malaysian journalists covering his attendance at the World Information and Communications Summit: WICS 2010, held in the South Korean capital.

Rais said Korea also had an interesting programme in developing animation and research in three-dimensinal computer graphics, which were used in science fiction films such as the epic movie, Avatar.

“These fields are very interesting and will give huge returns to both countries. We are actually looking at the Korean ICT as the champion in the industry as it has pioneered various advanced areas at the international level.

“So, we need to learn how Korea managed to sell its animation, movie and cinematography culture and expertise outside the country,” he said.

Rais said agencies involved in ICT in Malaysia should study the ICT developments in Korea and make proposals to the government on the approaches that could be taken to emulate Korea’s success.

He said Malaysia-Korea cooperation in ICT could also be forged through ICT training programmes involving the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and the Korean Communications Commission, and between the ICT practitioners of both countries.

“Perhaps there will be some of our ICT practitioners coming here and some from Korea going to Kuala Lumpur to see how the Malaysian ICT industry can develop in the best possible way.”

Rais regarded the organising of the WISC, where the leaders, ministers and deputy ministers from nine countries including from Asia discussed and exchanged ideas in ICT, as a noble effort by Korea.

“As an experienced country, Korea has further strengthened friendship with the developing countries, so that Asia as a whole will not lag behind in the field.

“We (Malaysia) shall take this as a new beginning for us, in a new era where ICT is part of our lifestyle that bring us economic, cultural and industrial benefits,” he said.

The two-day WICS 2010 organised by the Korean Multimedia Communications beginning Tuesday, was aimed at strengthening cooperation and building a sustainable future for the participating countries by sharing experiences and vision in ICT.

Rais also said that Malaysia and Korea would discuss the possibility of coming up with a book on 50 years of Malaysia-Korea relations.

Author          :          Bernama

Sources       :           http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp file=/2010/5/27/nation/20100527083922&sec=nation

Consumers to drive Malaysian ICT recovery

The Malaysian ICT market is expected to bounce back to double-digit growth in 2010 after shrinking by 3 per cent last year, according to an IDC analyst attending the first ZDNet IT Priorities Roundtable discussion, held in Kuala Lumpur last Thursday.
Maggie Tan, associate research director at IDC Malaysia, told the panel that consumer spending is expected to be the main force driving growth.

Maggie Tan, IDC Malaysia (Credit: Remy Rey de Barros)

"In Malaysia we are looking at pretty strong growth in 2010 compared to 2009, when there was negative growth in overall IT spending — although consumer spending was still very strong. We had 2 to 3 per cent negative growth in 2009 ... in 2010 we are looking at about 10.5 per cent growth but it is still mainly from consumers," said Tan
It's unclear if the lack of growth from the corporate market is due to CIOs in the region not having the right skills to justify their spending to the board.
Roundtable panellist Edwin Yapp, ZDNet Asia's correspondent in Malaysia — and a business owner himself — said that one problem faced by Malaysia is that generally its CIOs are still talking tech specs and software brands when pitching their ICT projects to the board, rather than building a strong business case.
"Too many of our IT managers, IT directors and CIOs are not articulating business value in terms of a business function — instead, they are talking about technical specifications and requirements, which CEOs and board level members don't want to hear."
Edwin explained that CEOs and CFOs want to know how new technology will affect their bottom line — they don't understand, or care about, the technology itself.
"This is one area where Malaysian CIOs definitely need to progress. CIOs are going to work more closely with CFOs so they better get this formula right because the finance chap is going to be the ultimate purse string remover."
Chris Cheong, regional IT director from global advertising firm Lowe & Partners, admitted that he has faced great difficulty justifying a refresh of the company's PCs and servers, most of which are between three and eight years old. However, the promise of significant productivity gains in the creative firm meant spending was allowed to equip the company's core design team with new Apple Macs.
We have not changed our hardware as frequently as I wanted. When you are doing creative services, the machines we last purchased was five to six years ago and because of the software that is available on the market — Adobe just launched CS5 — the machines that we have are unable to cope. So this year I forced them to change to the latest Macs that were available on the market."
The roundtable discussion also revealed that the financial crisis has resulted in many Malaysian firms to let spending on essentials such as security to lapse.

"Most Malaysian companies have the mindset, 'If you get attacked, then you start thinking about [security]'," said IDC's Tan.
ZDNet Asia's Yapp warned that this attitude is dangerous, "Your information is the most precious thing to you, and you have to do everything to defend it."
At this point, the discussion turned to the security risks — and associated costs — of social networking sites, especially Facebook.
Hong Soo Ng, country manager for Intel IT Malaysia, said, "Most people on Facebook don't care about information privacy — people just don't understand the implications."

Hong Soo Ng, Intel Malaysia (Credit: Remy Rey de Barros)

IDC's Tan agreed but iterated that the move to publishing personal information on social networks was unstoppable.
"It's something that is unavoidable — you can't stop young people from going on Facebook and telling their whole life story," she said.
Yapp agreed and suggested that instead of blocking Facebook, companies should manage its use.
"I'm a believer that you can't stop tech trends ... so no point stopping technology but I think it's very important to establish proper corporate governance and risk management policies within the company," he said.
Lowe and Partners' Cheong revealed that although using Facebook is still permitted in the company's Malaysian offices, it has been banned in Thailand and Indonesia — partly because of security but mainly due to the bandwidth costs associated with employees to swapping large files, such as videos.

Author          :          Munir Kotadia, ZDNet.com.au
Sources        :          http://www.zdnet.com.au/consumers-to-drive-malaysian-ict-recovery-339304677.htm

Apple files patent complaint against phone maker HTC

Sales of HTC's smartphones have surged making it a big player in the industry

Apple has accused the smartphone maker HTC of infringing its patents, in the latest phase of the legal battle between phone and tablet PC makers.

Apple has filed a complaint against the US International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking an inquiry by the panel into the matter.
The news comes just weeks after Apple and Samsung accused each other of copying designs and technology.
HTC is the world's third-biggest mobile phone maker, by stock market value.
However, HTC has denied Apple's allegations.
"HTC is dismayed that Apple has resorted to competition in the courts rather than the market place," said Grace Lei, HTC's general counsel.
Growing rivalry The launch of products such as iPhone and iPad saw Apple become one of the market leaders in the global smartphone market, and the biggest seller of tablet PCs.
Apple's success in quickly securing a large slice of the market, with fashionable products enjoying good demand from consumers, prompted several rivals to launch their own gadgets hoping to win a share of the fast-growing market.
However, that resulted in relations between Apple and its rivals souring as the competition grew.
Last year the American technology company filed a similar complaint against HTC accusing it of infringing as many as 20 of its patents.
That prompted HTC to launch a counter attack, claiming that Apple was guilty of infringing patents held by the Taiwanese company.
HTC went to the extent of seeking a ban on sales of iPhones, iPads and iPods in the United States.

Author          :          BBC News Business
Sources        :          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14117049

UK robot World Cup hopes dashed

RoboCup organiser Cetin Mericli says all the robots are autonomous, meaning they play with their own software intelligence

Related Stories

• Soccer bots gather for world cup

The UK's best robot footballers have followed the example of their human counterparts and bombed out of the football World Cup.

The country's first full team was taking part in the 2011 RoboCup in Istanbul over the weekend.
Sadly, the four-strong Edinferno squad from Edinburgh University, was knocked out in the group stages.
The team's coach vowed to return next year with a much improved side.
Dr Subramanian Ramamoorthy, assistant professor at the School of Informatics, said the lack of success was largely due to the fact that the UK has no national RoboCup tournament at which Edinferno could fine tune their hardware, software and strategy.

“Start Quote

Almost all the bugs that stopped us were because we were not match ready.”

End Quote Dr Subramanian Ramamoorthy Head coach, Edinferno

"Almost all the bugs that stopped us were because we were not match ready," he said.

By contrast, said Dr Ramamoorthy, opposing teams had taken part in their respective national tournaments and honed their players and team work before reaching the final in Turkey.
"I suspect we are one of the few that are here for their first year," he said.
Despite getting knocked out in the early stages, Dr Ramamoorthy said Edinferno had accomplished many of its goals.
"Until this year there was no British team," he said. "And we learned that our core technology is not that bad even though we have not been very successful."
Humanoid Edinferno took part in the Standard Platform League of the RoboCup which sees all teams use bipedal robots made by French firm Aldebaran Robotics. There are four other leagues covering software-only simulated soccer as well as small, medium and humanoid teams of robots. The RoboCup is the largest gathering of robots on the planet.

The 2011 RoboCup mascot reflects on the match: "All credit to the lads"

Dr Cetin Mericli, organiser of the RoboCup, said the event started in 1997 right after chess grand master Garry Kasparov was beaten by the IBM Deep Blue supercomputer.
Football was settled on as a "grand challenge" to focus the research efforts of robot makers and AI experts so the machines they produce get more competent. It gave them a benchmark against which to measure their progress, he said.
The problems that need to be solved to make a good team of football-playing robots are relevant to the many areas of human life that those thinking machines will have to tackle when they live and work alongside us, said Dr Mericli,
"We want to create robots that are intelligent enough to take care of themselves and to take care of anyone around them so they can be part of our lives," he said.
The competition was definitely starting to produce smarter robots, said Dr Mericli, because the rules governing the competitions regularly had to be revised as the machines and their creators got better at walking, recognising objects, avoiding collisions and working together.
Pitches were now bigger, teams had more players and landmarks to help with navigation were being removed as the robots got smarter and played better.
Household name The researchers, graduate students and engineers making the robots that take part were driving the development of robotics, said Dr Mericli.
He predicted that the great leaps being made by robotkind would mean an explosion in their numbers within a decade and lead to them becoming household gadgets that people cannot do without.

It was end-to-end play at the robot World Cup

"They will be the mobile phones and smartphones of the future," he said.
The ultimate aim of RoboCup is to produce a team that, by 2050 at the latest, can take on and beat the most recent human Fifa World Cup winning team. Dr Ramamoorthy is in no doubt its a reachable goal.
"I think we could get there," he said. "We can make robots that can win that game as all the pieces are here."
"However," he added, "if we did get there, the result would not be just about football. If you had robots that could win that game they would be useful for so many other things."

Cannot play media.You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version

The University of Edinburgh's Subramanian Ramamoorthy is training robots to play football

Author           :          BBC News

Sources         :         http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14103537

The web strikes back

You only have to look to the Oxford English Dictionary to see how much apps have become part of our day-to-day existence.

The word sits among others that define key technology in the modern world. Words like wiki, LOL, or the verb "to Google".
And if you do not have a dictionary to hand, there is, naturally, an app for that.
In just three years, Apple proclaimed last week, it has served up 15 billion apps through its online store.
With a sizeable revenue cut of paid programmes, it has become the goose that laid the golden egg for Steve Jobs.
And although Apple did not invent the smartphone application, its system has defined the user experience. iOS apps are simplicity at every turn - payment, installation and use.
Others have followed-suit, with great success. Android Market passed three billion downloads in May.
But after a period of rapid growth, native smartphone apps are facing a fight for survival.
That threat comes from web apps - software that runs in a browser rather than being downloaded and installed on the device's operating system.
Mubaloo, one of the UK's biggest mobile app developers, estimates that requests from clients for web apps has doubled in recent months - enough to make them the third big player in app development.
"We're probably doing iPhone, Android and web apps all about the same at the moment," said the company's founder Mark Mason.
"Those are the three platforms. We see Blackberry slowly dying a death, and we see Windows probably growing to be the fourth player."
The reason for that is simple - developing web apps solves several headaches.
Firstly, like the regular internet, a good web app can be made to adapt to a wide variety of devices rather than forcing the developer to create different products for each platform - be it iPhone or Android, smartphone or tablet.

Cannot play media.You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version

Developer Oli Christie explains the economics of apps.

Secondly, by circumventing the strict guidelines associated with official stores, Mr Mason's clients can have exactly what they want, and can say for certain when it will be ready for the public.
Should any changes need to be made once the app is live, they can be made instantly, rather than wait several days for approval.
And then there's the matter of money.
Put an app in the App Store and 30% of each sale goes to Apple. Android takes the same, but the cash goes to payment processors and mobile carriers.
Microsoft and BlackBerry also get a cut of what sells in their stores.
Web apps offer developers the chance to cut out the middle man.
Final straw If that was not enough of an incentive to fly solo, in February of this year, Apple announced that it would also be taking 30% of revenue from in-app subscription payments.
It is that levy which may have proved be the final straw for cash-strapped publishers relying on a lucrative digital strategy to keep operations moving.
The first major player to adopt a web-apped approach to mobile subscribers was the Financial Times (FT). In June, the newspaper released its debut web app. Since launch it has attracted 200,000 users.
FT bosses have said subsequently that future app development will be focused on web platforms rather than native.

Apple's App store set the standard, but now faces a challenge from browser-based software.

"The main factors on our mind when we launched app.ft.com were that it just isn't practical to maintain separate development for each individual technology platform," Stephen Pinches, the FT's group product manager for emerging technologies, told the BBC.
"It's unwieldy and ultimately unsustainable. We are planning to push our web app out to multiple platforms this year: Android, PlayBook, WebOS and others, and this really is the most logical and strategic approach."
Key improvements in smartphones' ability to power staple web components mean the FT web app does almost everything the company would expect from a downloaded app - including offline reading.
"The developments that have made this happen really are mostly to do with the way the hardware and the software on a phone play together," Mr Pinches continued.
"We now have much faster implementations of core web technologies such as JavaScript combined with much better hardware acceleration from the device itself."
There are still limitations, however. Web apps, for the time being at least, have less access to in-built functions that many popular native apps utilise, such as the compass, accelerometer or camera.
"On iOS devices particularly," Mr Pinches continues, "there are limitations as to how much data you can store in an app. It is capped at 50MB, and you have to explicitly ask the user for the space.
"This means we have to be smart about what we store, but limitations like this can be very good for developers as they force discipline and good design."
Hurling pigs Technology aside, by far the most pressing hurdle facing web apps is one of discoverability.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The main factors on our mind when we launched app.ft.com were that it just isn't practical to maintain separate It's unwieldy and ultimately unsustainable.”

End Quote Stephen Pinches FT group product manager

On all the market leading smart phones, a ready-made store for downloading apps is available to users from the word go. For web apps, there is a reliance on the user to consciously go to a web address.

In an industry that typically relies on recommendations and algorithmic indexing, this is a problem.
As the most widely read business newspaper in the UK, the FT may not have a problem getting its URL to the audience - but smaller operations without advertising budgets will struggle.
Teck Chia, a San Francisco-based developer, thinks he has the solution to this problem with his product, OpenAppMkt.com - a store for web apps.
"We identified two major problems for web apps on mobile," he told the BBC.
"One is discovery, and the other is the easy way to monetize their apps. Both of which were very well supported on the native platforms, but nothing of that sort exists on the open web for mobile."
To all intents and purpose, OpenAppMkt is just like any other app store.
"From the user's point of view, they see us as an alternative app store where they can discover apps that are not found in the Apple app store or Android Market.
"We support paid apps - and the way that people buy apps is very similar to the way they do it on the native app stores. They fill in a credit card once, and after that it's a one click process."

Web versions are now available of many of the most popular games and productivity applications

Of the revenue generated, Mr Chia's business takes a 20% share. In-app payments or subscriptions are not shared.
The site, which launched less than a year ago, has served up over one million app downloads, with an average of over 100,000 downloads a month.
Mr Chia concede that the overwhelming majority of apps downloaded are free - and this could pose problems in the long run.
"Every day we sell a few apps here and there - but there are not a lot of good quality paid apps yet."
Change of heart When asked by the BBC, Apple declined to offer any comment for this article. But its strategy seems fairly solid: the native app is king.
Yet even in Cupertino it has not always been that way.
"When they first launched the iPhone it was all web apps, web apps, web apps!" Stuart Miles from UK-based Pocket-lint.com recalls.
"But then when they launched the iPhone 3G, it was 'you don't want web apps, they're rubbish!
"You want native apps so then we can charge you for them... and we'll take 30%"
For now, that's a business model that works, and makes a lot money.
A third may be a sizeable slice of the developer's revenue, but it gives them access to the biggest pie around - for now.
But on an internet which was built on the spirit of openness and free content, the modest yet solid emergence of the web app as a low cost, featured-filled alternative is a sign that both users and developers may be drifting away from the walled-garden of mobile apps in search of a more liberated experience.

Author          :          Dave Lee
Sources        :          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14110968